Tag: Veterans Day

Freedom, as they say, isn’t free. It has a price far greater than a budget tally on a politician’s agenda and more than the rhetoric of a demonstrator.

It is personal.

And it is paid in the lonely tears of a wife whose husband spends more time eating MREs in the field than her meatloaf at the kitchen table.

In the child experiencing her first steps without her mommy to catch her.

The little leaguer practicing catch alone against a wall.

The youth who grows taller than his dad while he is gone.

The parent whose first and last waking thought is a prayer for safety.

Think about that when you thank a veteran today.

 

 

 

Today in the United States we celebrate Veterans Day, our British brothers and sisters call it Remembrance Day, but it’s all the same … commemorating the sacrifices made by soldiers. The following poem was written during World War I upon the death of the author’s friend. It explains why veterans organizations distribute poppies today.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

Let us not break faith with those men and women who have served us. Thank you.